Oregon Mule Deer

8/25/05 - 8/29/05

Tyler and I had the fantastic opportunity to
go hunting out of state with my brother, Larry and his son Justin.
They took us to their super secret archery spot in Eastern Oregon.
Larry bought an elk tag and Justin, Tyler and I bought deer tags. On
opening morning, we were a little late getting to the tree stands so I chose
to step off of the road about half way in on our 1 1/2 mile hike and find a
tree to sit on. At around 8 a.m., a very nice 4 point stepped out and
gave me a beautiful shot at right around 20 yards. I hit him a little
farther back than I would have liked and there was no blood trail....and I
mean NO BLOOD TRAIL. No, better yet, there was no trail at all.
No dig out marks, no hair on a tree, no nothing!! When Larry and the
boys returned, Tyler practically knocked me down while telling me all about
the elk calf they saw at 5 yards. I had been wandering back and forth
for 45 minutes trying to find any sign at all so I let him ramble.
When he finally ran out of breath, I told my brother, "I have an arrow in a
4 point and I can't find any blood". Both the boys' eyes flew open
with a rather incredulous look. "NO WAY!", Ty said. I told Larry
where I last heard the buck and we headed downhill. About 250 - 300
yards from where I hit the deer, we found blood. We trailed him for
another 200 yards or so and found him. I'm really pleased. He's
a great deer!

My first Mulie. What a great deer!

This was truly one of the best hunting
trips I've ever been on. I got to catch up with my brother and
having him help drag a deer sure took the load off.

The little fellers found out that dragging
my buck wasn't as easy as Larry and I made it look.

Eventhough dragging my buck was a lot of
hard work, the boys were still all smiles.

The next evening, after moving the boys' tree
stands to a meadow closer to the town of Granite, Tyler hit a nice little
forked horn buck. Larry says he'll never forget Tyler whispering
"Uncle Larry, I think I hit him a little far back". Uh duh! The
exit wound for the arrow was the buck's right thigh. I'd call that "a
little far back". Unfortunately, we ran out of daylight trying to find
the deer on Sunday night and had to return Monday morning. After a 2+
hour search, we were VERY lucky to find him across the road from where Ty
shot him. We met a very nice game warden, too. He told us that
his sister was dating Brad Miller of the Sacramento Kings. Small
world!

Below are a few more shots of Ty's deer.
Click on an image for a larger view.

Uncle Larry, Justin and I took turns helping Ty drag his deer to the road.

Tyler owes Justin for giving up a good spot
to shoot from AND for other assorted things on this trip....don'tcha Ty?
=-)